Recently, it is said that one person per 30 to 40 persons of forty years and over suffers from glaucoma. Patients with this glaucoma tend to be increased every year, and glaucoma becomes a serious problem in the society where the aged is being increased. Therefore, establishment of a method for treating glaucoma which has not been established in the prior art has an important meaning, and also, a treatment agent effective for this glaucoma has been demanded.
Glaucoma is an optic nerve functional disorder caused by pressing an optic nerve by an optic disk which is an entrance and exit of an eyeball due to raising of intraocular pressure to cause a functional disorder. It is also considered that raising of intraocular pressure becomes a trigger of apoptosis of an optic nerve to cause an optic nerve functional disorder.
In conventional treatment of glaucoma, only intraocular pressure has been lowered by the dropping of a .beta.-blocker in the eyes or internal application of an the intraocular pressurelowering agent. However, even when the intraocular pressure is lowered, the lowering of eyesight and the stricture of a visual field continue to proceed and cannot be prevented even by administering vitamin B.sub.12 and a blood stream-improving agent in some cases.
Therefore, the lowering of intraocular pressure is insufficient, and a medicine which takes charge of functional maintenance, improvement, growth and regeneration of an optic nerve itself is required for treatment of an optic nerve functional disorder. Also, a medicine for preventing apoptosis of an optic nerve is required.